Naira firms against dollar

Naira strengthened the most in more than a week after Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi said the regulator won’t abandon its mandate of price stability.

The currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer appreciated 0.4 per cent to 157.45 a dollar, reversing yesterday’s decline. The naira has strengthened 3.1 per cent this year, the second-best performing currency tracked by Bloomberg in Africa.

“The CBN is responsible for stability,” Sanusi said at a conference yesterday. “If we abandon that function because we’re pursuing somebody else’s job, we will lose it.”

The apex bank boosted borrowing costs to bolster the naira and “anchor” price expectations, Sanusi said. The Monetary Policy Committee has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record high 12 per cent this year. Consumer prices rose 11.7 percent in October, staying above the central bank’s goal of less than 10 percent.